Page 43 - Stone and Bronze, Indian art of the Chola Dynasty, Metropolitan Museum, NYC

The glorious relief on the Punjai temple of about 950
(Figure 44) concentrates on the essentials of the motif
and on the aesthetic effect. The warrior-devotees have
been included in the composition of the panel; so have
her two mounts, the lion and the buck (which has lost
its horns), rising behind her shoulders, looking at her
head. The divine maiden here has four arms only, the
back hands holding Vishnu's disk and conch. Siva's tri-
dent and bow rise, magically suspended, behind her
shoulders. The relief is less worn by worship and weather
than the previous one. The stance is more erect and
formal, the modeling of the body less soft and sensitive.
The image on the Gangajatadhara temple (982) at
Govindaputtur (Figure 45) once more is eight-armed,
and very successfully realized. Much attention is given
to detail. The trident has disappeared; the emblems are
held almost vertically, the disk still edge-on. The sinuous
curves of the lateral sashes are a new feature. Altogether
the formalizing trend that we already noticed at Punjai
is much more in evidence now.
We do encounter, on a few very early Chola temples,
beautiful life-size female figures that are not icons. They
do not represent the Goddess, but they are emanations
of the female principle on a theologically lower plane
or even on a secular one. They have been taken for
lady donors, Chola princesses. But both their scale and
their attitude seem to exclude this attractive interpreta-
tion, and I believe that they are denizens of a higher
realm, though not equal to the great gods-nymphs
(apsarases) perhaps, orjust devotees from the heavenly
world. Unlike the icons, they are more immediately
modeled on the human body and shown in a relaxed
and human pose or stance as well. Among them we find
some of the most beautiful sculptures of south India. On
some of these early temples there are, in the secondary
niches, both female and male devotees;90 on later tem- FIGURE 45
ples there are sometimes males alone.9' Durga, 982. Gangajatadhara temple, Govinda-
Two heavenly maidens on the Nagesvara temple puttur
(886) at Kumbakonam are among the loveliest realiza-
tions of this concept (Figures 46, 47). On each figure, with a soft ripple of raised folds. Large pendants, sus-
the large coil of hair is braided with flowers; the raised pended from the belt on heavy chains, fall to the knees.
hand holds a lotus. The sari clings to the slender legs, The bodies are modeled with a gentle softness that is
matched by the chaste and demure expression. The
slim waist and heavy breasts express the age-old Indian
90. Kumbakonam, Nagesvara (886); Srinivasanallur, Koran- ideal of feminine beauty. The much-mutilated figure
ganatha (895). on the at Srinivasanallur (Fig-
9I. Tiruvarur, Achalesvara (992); Tanjavur, Rajarajesvara Koranganatha (c. 895)
(IOIO). ure 48) represents a different local school.

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